The present invention relates to a fly-by-wire flight control system, and more particularly to an electronic lag damper algorithm implemented as part of the fly-by-wire flight control system which augments a mechanical lead/lag damper for a rotor system of a rotary wing aircraft.
Rotary-wing aircraft include lead/lag dampers to increase rotor blade lead/lag mode damping characteristics. The damper assembly reacts against lead/lag motions of each rotor blade assembly of the rotor system to dampen vibration. Typically, the dampers are sized for a variety of considerations including the need to stabilize ground resonance of the rotary-wing aircraft.
Although effective, current dampers operate under high pressures and may require relatively comprehensive maintenance attention. Furthermore, as each rotor blade requires a lead/lag damper, the dampers increase the overall structural envelope and weight of the rotor system such that aircraft weight is concomitantly increased.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a flight control system which provides an electronic lead/lag damper algorithm to minimize or eliminate mechanical lead/lag dampers within a rotor system of a rotary wing aircraft to thereby decrease the overall structural envelope and weight of the rotor system.